Rudder-locking apparatus



(.No Model.)

J. KITSON. RUDDER LOOKING APPARATUS.

No. 463,617. Patented Nov. 1.7, 1891.

T r in A g: z j? WITNESSES- %c7i% IN ENTURA UNITE STATES AT-ENT JOHN KITSON, OF JERSEY CITY, NEXV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ISAAC BROIVN, OF BROOKLYN, NE\V YORK.

RU DD'ER-LOCKING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,517, dated November 17, 1891.

Application filed June 5, 1891. Serial No. 395,192. (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN KITsON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of Few Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rudder-LockingApparatus for Ferry-Boats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to lever apparatus io cated at a station of an officer of the boat, preferably in the vicinity of the pilot-house, but it may be at the engineers station, and connected with the rudder-lockingpins,whereby the wheelsman, engineer, or other officer may look and unlock the rudders, according as the direction of the boats movement is changed, without such officer having to leave his position and go to the positions of the pins to shift them by hand; and it consists in the improvement of such apparatus, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings,

in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional eleva- 2 5 tion of a ferry-boat rigged with rudder-locking apparatus according to myinvention, said levers being in this example located in the pilot-house. Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the lever contrivances in a view at right an- 0 gles to that in which the same devices are out of the one astern, accordingas theboat runs one way or the other, said pins having lifting ropes, as d, connecting with them, as at e, and 5 running over suitable guide-pulleys f to the upper deck and connected with any suitable hand-lever, as g, or foot-lever, as h,in ornear the pilot-house i, where the pilot can work them to adjust the locking-pins therefrom. The hand-lever g is in this example an elbowlever pivoted to a support at j, and has a notched catch-plate 76, along which the long arm swings, and may be fastened by lodging in a notch Z, the rope (1 being connected to the end of the short arm.

To the foot-lever h I have added another member h, both being pivoted at m, and the short arms connected by the cord 02, extended around the pulley o, forming a compound arrangement, whereby greater length of movement of rope d is effected with agiven range of movement of lever h by the foot than if rope d were connected directly to the end of lever h; but I do not limit myself to any par-- ticular form of lever. Lever h has a spur k to catch under hook 7.5 to hold up the locking- The locking-pins may be connected to the workinglever at the end of the upper deck next thereto, if desired; but, because it is desirable to lock the rudder last used as soon as the boat is made fast in the slip and not. to unlock the other untilall preparations have been made for starting, it is preferred to connect the pins with the levers of the opposite ends of said upper deck, respectively, so that the pilot is in position to lock the one from the house in which he has steered the boat into the slip, and the other from the position he takes in the other house when outward 8o bound.

- To prevent the sag and inertia of the long ropes running nearly the wholelength of the boat from obstructing the fall of the pins, I provide a recoiling spring 19 with each rope, and near the pin to pull the rope back and relieve the pin of the drag of the rope, for

which I use coiled springs, located in a position protected from wet and freezing, and which are at the ends toward the pins in connection with which they are employed, fastened to a fixed object, as q, and at the other ends connected, at s, to the rope to stretch when the ropes are pulled and pull back the ropes when released.

I am aware that rubber springs have been employed for the like purpose in similar apparatus for operating the pins, but in a position exposed to wetting and freezing, which soon destroy such springs, and, besides, such IOO springs have not sufficient range of movement for efficient action in such connection,

broadly. I may, however, as above stated, in the protected position and connected with locate the lever apparatusil'i the engine-room the ropes for relieving the plus of the drag 15 to be Worked by the engineer as directed by of the ropes, substantially as described.

and I do not claim the reeoiling springs for the ropes, and the coiled springs located 5 signals from the wheelsman. i Signed at New York city, in the county of I claim NeifYork and State of New York, this 11th In a ferry-boat, the combination, with the day of May, A. D. 1891.

dropping them, located in the vicinity of the rudder-locking pins, of levers for lifting and I IOIIN KITSON 10 position of an otficer of theboat, as on the up- Witnesses:

per deck in or about the pilot-houses, ropes V. J. MORGAN, connecting said levers and pins, guide-pulleys XV. 13. EARLL. 

